DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION
I want to thank each and every one of you for giving me the opportunity to be KCHP president this last year… because if nothing else, it gave me a captive audience for my Twilight Zone geeky obsession! Thank you to everyone who read those articles. I’m sure Jeff will have his own theme he’s ready to roll out, so get ready…
A year ago, I stood before you and gave what was probably the longest inaugural speech on record… Don’t worry, I won’t repeat that today…
But I want to remind you of one of the statements in that speech. I quoted Don Francke, who said it in 1964 when he released the findings of the study “The Mirror to Hospital Pharmacy.” The statement is:
The survival of pharmacy as a profession rests to a major degree on Health-System Pharmacists.
The statement from over 50 years ago is every bit as true today, if not more.
The future of our profession is in your hands. So how can we sculpt our future? What can we do today to ensure the success of our profession for years to come?
Let’s start with something called Disruptive Innovation.
Disruptive Innovation is a term coined in the 1990’s by Harvard Business Professor Clayton Christensen. Some of you may already be familiar with his books, so you know disruptive innovation is an invention that is loosely based upon an existing market and value network, but different enough to create slightly new markets by applying a different set of values… all of which will soon overtake the values of the existing market.
No one is really expecting the change, because the idea might seem pretty crazy in the beginning. But one thing leads to another and pretty soon, that existing market has been completely uprooted and disrupted by this new idea. The change can happen very quickly, maybe over just a few years, or take much longer, like a few decades.
You may not realize this, but I bet almost every person in this room right now, at this moment, is holding a piece of disruptive innovation. Can you guess what it is?
I’ll give you a hint… you’re using it right now to text to your sweetie while I’m giving this speech.
Yes, we all know smartphones and iphones have been amazing technology, but the truly disruptive part of those phones is not the phone itself, it’s the camera.
Ten years ago, anyone in this room taking photos would be using a digital camera... which in itself was disruptive technology to the old model cameras that used film. But now, with the camera actually built into your phone, you don’t need to carry extra equipment, you don’t need to transfer files, you have basically a camera and photo album right in the palm of your hands. Disruptive innovation made conventional photographers obsolete, and they’ve had to change their methods to survive.
So where do pharmacists fit into this? Will we be the victims of disruptive innovation, like some photographers, or will we take the lead?
You’d think the answer might be in this book. Christensen came out with “The Innovator’s Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care” in 2009. He attempted to apply his principles of disruptive innovation on our healthcare system.
How many of you have read this book?
Do you remember how many times Christensen mentioned Pharmacy in his idea of disruptive innovation to improve the healthcare system?
You can’t remember because it’s not in there!
ZERO, NADA, NONE!!!
Not once was pharmacy mentioned as a disruptive innovator, not once in this entire book. Why you might ask? It’s not mentioned for the simple fact that in the hundreds of interviews Christensen conducted, no one (NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON), talked about pharmacy or its past or future role in health care!
And yet it’s called the Innovators PRESCRIPTION! For God’s sake, there are PILLS on the cover!
What is wrong with this picture folks??!!!
If you look at the history of pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Care in the health-system setting IS a disruptive innovation. WE are the product of that. A half century ago, pharmacists didn’t work alongside physicians, counseling patients and adjusting meds in real time. We were back behind counters, creating our concoctions and counting our pills. Today, thanks to the disruptive innovation of the pharmaceutical care model, we are a critical part of the team directly responsible for good patient care. Medication is involved in more than 80 percent of all treatments… that means we are, too.
But if we’re so gosh darn important as disruptive innovators, why aren’t we mentioned at all in Christenson’s book?
Because we do an excellent job of doing what we do… but not always such a great job advocating for our profession. We know we can help the healthcare system achieve the Triple Aim of improved health outcomes, enhanced patient experience and lower cost. We need to accelerate our efforts to share that message with the world.
Each one of you possesses the skills to be a great innovator in our profession. According to Christenson’s research, innovators connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas from different fields to cultivate insight.
They are good at detecting small behavioral details that suggest new ways of doing things.
They are willing to try new experiences, meet new people, and entertain new perspectives.
Most of all, they play devil’s advocate by asking “why”, “why not”, and “what if”… and challenge the status quo.
I know for a fact everyone in this room is willing to challenge the status quo, because we did it six years ago, when KCHP became its own separate organization. It was a gutsy move, and another example of disruptive innovation.
But now is not the time to rest or become compliant. They’re making 3-D printers that could eventually print out pills. Yeah, sounds crazy… but 20 years ago, so did the idea of taking a photo with your phone. In order for pharmacy to thrive as a sustainable profession, we have to take the lead and BE the disruptive innovators in health care… not the victims.
In closing… and I’d better close now, or someone will disrupt my speech… it’s a tradition for past KCHP presidents to give advice to the incoming president. I advised Jeff to provide free beer at the next annual meeting, so we’ll see what happens there. I also told him something I want to share with you as well:
Do something every day to improve patient care.
Sometimes that may mean direct interaction with a patient, sometimes it will mean focusing on other members of the health care team… but at other times, it will mean practicing some of the behaviors of a disruptive innovator.
Seek out and create new ideas.
Question the status quo.
And stand up and advocate for the innovative role of pharmaceutical care. Remember when Steve Jobs introduced the iphone and its camera in 2007, he wasn’t quiet about it!
The future of pharmacy depends on what we do now. The healthcare system depends on it. Your patients depend on it. NO, your patients depend on you!
This isn’t the Twilight Zone. The Time is Now.
Thank you.